Choosing herself! Sister Wives’ Meri Brown is focused on moving forward as a single woman after confirming her split from Kody Brown in December 2022.
The TLC personality legally married Kody in 1990, becoming his first wife. Meri stuck around as the Wyoming native built their plural marriage, which expanded in 1993 with Kody’s spiritual marriage to Janelle Brown. The following year, Kody spiritually wed Christine Brown.
The Brown family once again shifted in 2010 when fourth wife Robyn Brown came into the group. Four years later, Meri divorced Kody so he could legally wed Robyn and adopt her children from a prior marriage.
While Meri remained spiritually linked to Kody for nearly another decade, she confirmed during a December 2022 episode of Sister Wives: One-on-One special that they were no longer married.
“He’s already made the decision,” Meri explained, noting that her former partner’s comments that he didn’t “consider” them married were never directly relayed to her before or after they aired on TV.
She claimed in December 2022 that Kody informed her of their split after she called him on their anniversary. “He’s like, ‘I don’t even know why you called me Meri,’” she recalled of the chat. “He’s like, ‘We’re not married. We’re not acting as married.’”
The exes, who share child Leon, faced many ups and downs in their marriage before calling it quits. The California native and Kody weathered a catfishing scandal in 2015 which took a toll on their relationship. (Meri was in an online relationship with someone who misrepresented themselves.)
Once Meri temporarily moved to Utah in late 2021 to run her bed and breakfast following her mom’s death, the cracks in their union became even more apparent.
The reality star hinted at a full breakup in November 2022 when she started posting inspirational quotes via her social media.
“All that I am becoming is in front of me. The future is bright and holds the promise of hope, the fulfillment of dreams, the excitement of creation!” Meri wrote via Instagram on November 9, 2022. “I am at peace with me, with my past, with the experiences that have shaped who I am. I am in love with me, with the adventures I have and the people I surround myself with, with all things that are currently present in my life.”
She turned heads later that month while celebrating an early Thanksgiving with a group of friends — and made no mention of her spouse in her Instagram post.
“It’s so important to take time to tune out the noise and distractions so you can figure out what is most important to YOU. Find your passion, follow your dreams, take a step daily, even if small, toward a goal or a dream and make that thing a reality,” the Becoming Sister Wives coauthor captioned a carousal of pictures on November 20, 2022. “Live your life with passion and joy! Remember, you’re worthy of having all you want in your life. You deserve it, and you’re worth it!”
Meri’s separation from Kody came one year after Christine, whom he spiritually wed in 1994, announced that she and the patriarch had split after more than 25 years of marriage. Janelle, meanwhile, confirmed during the December 2022 tell-all that she and Kody had been “separated for several months.”
Scroll down to see everything Meri has said about moving forward following her split from Kody:
Credit: Justin Stephens/Discovery (2)
Sister Wives’ Meri Brown’s Most Honest Quotes About Moving Forward After Kody Brown Split: ‘Worthy Up, Sister!’
Choosing herself! Sister Wives’ Meri Brown is focused on moving forward as a single woman after confirming her split from Kody Brown in December 2022.
The TLC personality legally married Kody in 1990, becoming his first wife. Meri stuck around as the Wyoming native built their plural marriage, which expanded in 1993 with Kody’s spiritual marriage to Janelle Brown. The following year, Kody spiritually wed Christine Brown.
The Brown family once again shifted in 2010 when fourth wife Robyn Brown came into the group. Four years later, Meri divorced Kody so he could legally wed Robyn and adopt her children from a prior marriage.
While Meri remained spiritually linked to Kody for nearly another decade, she confirmed during a December 2022 episode of Sister Wives: One-on-One special that they were no longer married.
“He’s already made the decision,” Meri explained, noting that her former partner’s comments that he didn’t “consider” them married were never directly relayed to her before or after they aired on TV.
She claimed in December 2022 that Kody informed her of their split after she called him on their anniversary. “He’s like, ‘I don’t even know why you called me Meri,’” she recalled of the chat. “He’s like, ‘We’re not married. We’re not acting as married.’”
The exes, who share child Leon, faced many ups and downs in their marriage before calling it quits. The California native and Kody weathered a catfishing scandal in 2015 which took a toll on their relationship. (Meri was in an online relationship with someone who misrepresented themselves.)
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Once Meri temporarily moved to Utah in late 2021 to run her bed and breakfast following her mom’s death, the cracks in their union became even more apparent.
The reality star hinted at a full breakup in November 2022 when she started posting inspirational quotes via her social media.
“All that I am becoming is in front of me. The future is bright and holds the promise of hope, the fulfillment of dreams, the excitement of creation!” Meri wrote via Instagram on November 9, 2022. “I am at peace with me, with my past, with the experiences that have shaped who I am. I am in love with me, with the adventures I have and the people I surround myself with, with all things that are currently present in my life.”
She turned heads later that month while celebrating an early Thanksgiving with a group of friends — and made no mention of her spouse in her Instagram post.
“It’s so important to take time to tune out the noise and distractions so you can figure out what is most important to YOU. Find your passion, follow your dreams, take a step daily, even if small, toward a goal or a dream and make that thing a reality,” the Becoming Sister Wives coauthor captioned a carousal of pictures on November 20, 2022. “Live your life with passion and joy! Remember, you’re worthy of having all you want in your life. You deserve it, and you’re worth it!”
Meri’s separation from Kody came one year after Christine, whom he spiritually wed in 1994, announced that she and the patriarch had split after more than 25 years of marriage. Janelle, meanwhile, confirmed during the December 2022 tell-all that she and Kody had been “separated for several months.”
Scroll down to see everything Meri has said about moving forward following her split from Kody:
Credit: Discovery+
The Sting of Their 30th Anniversary
Kody claimed during part 1 of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special in December 2022 that he thought about “reconciliation” after Meri gifted him her homemade Rice Krispies Treats in 2020.
Meri, however, recalled that anniversary date a little bit differently. “That’s interesting that he felt like that. Because that is also the same day that we went out on a picnic and he was saying, ‘No, you’re supposed to have been courting me,’” she remembered. “I said, ‘Kody, I’ve been waiting for you’ and he’s like, ‘I’m not coming.’”
Elsewhere in the episode, Meri recalled how Kody shifted from their first anniversary in Arizona in 2018 to their 2020 celebration.
“Our first anniversary that we had here in Flagstaff, ‘Cheers to a new beginning.’ As opposed to this last anniversary, he’s like, ‘I don’t even know why you called me Meri.’ He’s like, ‘We’re not married. We’re not acting as married,’” she claimed. “And I said to him them, ‘If that’s where we are, don’t you think we should address that publicly?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t want to address it. I don’t want that to be out there publicly because I don’t want that judgment.’”
Credit: TLC
She Fought for Intimacy
Meri revealed in the December 2022 tell-all episode that during the former couple’s 30th anniversary, she tried to get close to Kody and he allegedly denied her advances.
“After I turned off my camera, I put my arms around him. Up around his neck and I said, ‘What would you do if I just kissed you right now?’” she told host Sukanya Krishnan. “He was physically [straight like] a board. And he was backing up. He’s like, ‘I can’t do that.’”
Credit: Justin Stephens/Discovery (2)
Kody ‘Made the Decision’ About Their Split
When asked where she and Kody stand during the December 2022 One-on-One special, Meri claimed she didn’t have a say in their separation. “He’s already made the decision” that we’ve split,” she said. “I have never heard him say [he didn’t ‘consider’ us married] to me [specifically].”
Credit: Courtesy of Meri Brown/Instagram
Would Meri Be Open to Reconciliation?
“I would [think about reconciliation]. I don’t think that he’s interested,” Meri confessed during the December 2022 TLC special.
Credit: Courtesy of Meri Brown/Instagram
She’s Advocating for People Finding ‘Courage’
“If you don’t want to make waves, keep on being mediocre,” Meri wrote via Instagram in December 2022. “Do the thing that everyone else is doing. Seek everyone else’s opinion and validation. Do what everyone else thinks you should do.”
The TLC star offered her social media followers an alternative, adding, “Or … Do your thing. Do your thing in your own time and on your own terms. Let them judge you. Let them talk about you. Let them create their own ‘stories’ about you.”
She concluded: “Find your courage. Find your strength. Know who YOU are and don’t let them tell you any different. Worthy Up, Sister!”
Credit: Courtesy of Meri Brown/Instagram
New Year, New Meri
The reality star bid farewell to a tough 12 months in a lengthy Instagram post before New Year’s Day 2023. “Just taking a moment today to say thank you to 2022,” she wrote. “A year of challenges and personal growth, a year of confusion and then clarity. A year of clearing out the old to make room for the new. A year of finding myself again and knowing who has my back. A year of travel, new friends, new businesses, epic adventures, fabulous memories, and divine interventions. A year so full of realizations and forward movement and setting the stage for the most amazing 2023. I’m here for it all. Thank you 2022, here I come 2023!”
Credit: Courtesy of TLC/YouTube
Their Side of the Story
Meri and Kody shared a joint Instagram statement explaining their breakup in more detail one month after part 1 of the Sister Wives: One-on-One special aired. “During this process, we are committed to kindness and respect toward each other and to all members of our family, and we are also committed to the continued healing of any and all relationships within the family so that we can move forward with forgiveness, grace, and love,” the exes wrote. “In kindness, Meri and Kody.”
Meri added in a caption that she “had many open and honest discussions” with Kody before publicly addressing their split.
“There is so much more to be told about this story, and I assure you, my truth will be told,” the California native wrote. “But for now, know that there is peace in my heart, and I hold no animosity toward Kody. I am not, and pray that I never will be, in a place where I will enjoy making, or seeing you make, rude and demeaning comments about him. … Please try to refrain from congratulating me at the break up of my marriage. I value the relationship I had, and look forward to stepping into 2023 and my future with grace, kindness and power.”